South Korea battery plant fire kills 22, including at least 10 Chinese nationals

Multiple powerful explosions set a lithium battery factory on fire in South Korea on Monday, killing 22 workers, fire officials said.

The fire broke out at a primary battery plant in Hwaseong, around 45 kilometers south of the nation's capital, Seoul, at about 10:31 a.m. local time (0131 GMT).

Kim Jin-young, a local fire station official, said in a televised briefing that rescue workers retrieved the bodies of the 21 missing factory workers who could not be reached after the fire broke out.

One worker died of cardiac arrest before the search operation began.

Two others were seriously wounded, and six sustained minor injuries, including smoke inhalation.

One worker remains unaccounted for, but it's unclear whether the worker is trapped inside the factory or simply not reached, according to the fire official.

Firefighters struggled to extinguish the fire because of the difficulty in putting out the flame of lithium batteries.

They went inside the factory and searched for bodies after extinguishing a large blaze at about 3:10 p.m. local time.

Some 35,000 lithium batteries were said to be stored on the second floor of the three-story reinforced concrete factory, which has a total floor area of about 2,300 square meters.

At least 10 Chinese nationals were confirmed dead in the fire, but the death toll is yet to be confirmed, according to the Chinese Embassy in South Korea.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol issued emergency instructions to the relevant authorities, telling them to "mobilize all available personnel and equipment to focus on searching for and rescuing people," his office said.

Firefighting and rescue efforts are ongoing. The cause of the fire is unknown.

(With input from agencies)